Army Chemicals, Fuels Haunt Sumter Site

May 30, 1988|By Mike Oliver of The Sentinel Staff

BUSHNELL — Wayne Wertz will go just about anywhere to drill a well. Anywhere, that is, except to 1,500 acres north of Bushnell.

Wertz, 37, has drilled or helped drill 2,000 wells since he learned the trade from his father at age 11. On one day in 1984, he put a carbon steel drill bit into the ground and up spewed foul-smelling water that splashed his pants.

He soon felt a stinging like a horde of fire ants biting his legs. He rubbed and scratched and finally pulled down his pants to look at his thighs. Hunks of skin rolled off.

A doctor said he suffered chemical burns. It was immediately suspected that Wertz had tapped a canister or deposit of leftover mustard gas, a potent chemical weapon that burns on contact.

It was well known in the area that the 1,500-acre tract had been the site of an Army installation and a top-secret chemical warfare unit during World War II.

Declassified Army documents and accounts from soldiers stationed at the base detail experiments with mustard gas on goats, rabbits and even humans as part of an operation of the Dugway Proving Ground Mobile Chemical Warfare Service Unit.

After Wertz was burned, the state and the Army launched a series of soil and water tests of the immediate area, but couldn't find any evidence of mustard gas or any other nerve gases.The cause of Wertz's burns remains unknown.

Now, the Army is coming back to test water on the site after the discovery this year of a contaminated well. The contamination doesn't have anything to do with mustard gas, state tests show. It is believed to be aviation fuel left over from an experimental pumping system for bombers that was used at the base, called Bushnell Army Air Field.

Ken and Paula House own one of two homes that the state Department of Environmental Regulation has equipped with special filters to filter out cancer-causing contaminants such as benzene from their water. The Houses choose not to eat or cook with the water though they have been told it is safe.

The Houses and other nearby residents are upset. Although the state and Army investigation in 1984 after Wertz was burned showed contamination of the water, that information wasn't passed along to prospective home buyers.

The Army report in its conclusion stated that ''no evidence of any mustard, nerve agent . . . or military irritants was detected in any of the soil or water samples. An unidentified organic compound detected in four of the water samples . . . is not related to any known agent.''

Officials concede the unknown compound was the aviation fuel they believe has contaminated the Houses' water supply.

Though homes in the immediate area have been tested at least once, residents are worried the contamination may eventually drift their way. Dangerous levels of fuel components, up to 30 parts per billion, can be present in water but cannot be tasted or smelled. More than one part per billion of benzene is considered unsafe for people, according to Environmental Protection Agency standards.

Mark Wolff, an environmental engineer with the Army Corps of Engineers, criticized the state for stopping its investigation when no mustard gas was found. Wolff, who is handling the recent testing for the Army, called the state's initial investigation a ''witch hunt'' for mustard gas or a chemical agent and said it should have continued until an explanation was found.

''I have no explanation as to why they dropped their concern,'' Wolff said. The DER workers who led the investigation are no longer with the agency. John Kolek, a former DER environmental specialist who worked on the investigation, said he did not remember a report that indicated fuel in the water.

''It was passed off as insignificant,'' said Warren Maddox, environmental health director for the Sumter County Public Health Unit. ''No one bothered, including myself, to look further at the possibility of fuel contamination. Everyone was looking for mustard gas.''

Maddox said now he doesn't believe there are mustard gas canisters buried on the site where Wertz was burned. He said it is possible the fuel burned Wertz.

Wertz isn't convinced. ''This was not a matter of my skin getting irritated -- it was burned,'' he said.

Wertz described the burns as large red blisters on each leg surrounded by dozens of dime-sized blisters all over his thighs, knees and calves. His son, who stood near the well in his tennis shoes, suffered from light burns on his feet.

The burns described by Wertz are similar to those desribed by James Newsome, a 62-year-old Forestry Service firefighter who said he participated in the testing of mustard gas as a 19-year-old recruit stationed at the base. ''They shot the gas and we went out in it with protective clothing and gas masks on,'' Newsome said. ''I was given a 90-day discharge because of burns on my neck and arms. It made my skin tight and felt like sunburn then it turned into tiny little bitty blisters.''

Newsome recalled that the Army would put goats and rabbits in cages and test the gases on them.